Enabling Change
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Enabling you to change the world

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Upcoming workshops: April-May 2013

Changeology

For those aiming to tackle complex social, environmental or health problems, this 2 day workshop gives you the tools, skills and rigor to proceed with confidence.

"I feel like I've gone from zero to 90 in two days."- Manager, Strategic Communication, NSW state agency

Sydney 23-24 April 2013
Melbourne 30 April - 1 May 2013
Cost $595

Walk away with a complete plan for your next project, down to tactics, messages and evaluation. It includes a crash course in the psychology of change; a step-by-step program design methodology; and a hands-on design clinic for managers with up-coming projects in sustainability, health, road safety and other areas. Click to see a graphical representation of what's in the workshop.

Full details.

To book a place.

Facilitation Skills

Facilitation is a change maker's core skill. Les shares the skills and tools to productively facilitate almost any group in almost any situation.

"Very good. Gave me what I wanted, which was greater confidence to facilitate." - Environmental educator, NSW

Sydney 26 April 2013
Melbourne 2 May 2013
Cost $395

Full details

To book a place.

UPDATE ON CHANGEOLOGY, THE BOOK: The UK edition is out now. Australian and US editions are due for release in March 2013...

CHANGEOLOGY
How to enable groups, communities and societies to do things they've never done before

What the book is about.

For a taste, here's chapter one, including the contents page. And here's an infographic explaining what it covers.

(Impatient Australian and US readers can order the UK edition directly from Green Books or The Book Depository.)

New resources

"If not, then what?"
How to reinvigorate a Landcare or bushcare group. An inspiring collection of reinvention ideas generated by participants in Les's Passion Mashin' workshops. Download the booklet. (287k PDF).

A Palette of Behavioural Interventions
One of the biggest challenges facing program designers is to imagine the full range of interventions available to them. This two-page tool sets them out simply and accessibly. Get the tool.

How to craft a persuasive climate change message
It's time to shift the climate change discussion from facts to actions. Here's an example of how to do it, based on lessons from behavioural psychology. Download (1.1Mb PDF).

The 5 Doors
Confused by behaviour change theories? Here's one that wraps some of the best thinking into 5 simple principles. It's guaranteed to generate insights that change the way you work. 5 Doors Theory (147k PDF). 5 Doors diagram (12k PDF).

FAQs about behaviour change
The same questions about behaviour change come up again and again. Here are some answers that might be useful. This article first appeared in The Guardian. (86k PDF)

What enables cycling?
This study, carried out for the City of Sydney, will be of interest to anyone wanting to increase cycling in their communities. Download the study. (1.5Mb PDF)
Download the cycling logic model (168k PDF)

The dark side of regulating behaviour - the case of seat belt laws
Seat belt laws were supposed to make us all safer. Amazingly, after 40 years there is still no certainty about whether they have done so. Instead seat belt laws demonstrate some of the unexpected "blow-backs" that undermine attempts to legislate behaviour. Download. (246k PDF)

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Most read articles

The problem with Social Marketing - why you can't sell change like soap
This paper presents a critique of Social Marketing. Why the answer to "wicked" problems requires different approaches. The paper. (140k PDF)

Enabling Change: the process and the theory
Here, for the first time, is the step-by-step methodology and the theoretical background to the Enabling Change method of program design.
The Enabling Change process (260k PDF)
5 Doors Theory (147k PDF). 5 Doors diagram (12k PDF).

Introduction to the Diffusion of Innovations
A succinct introduction to the model of change that focuses on innovation design, viral communications, and satisfying the needs of users. Download (259k PDF)
[This article is very popular. It's been downloaded over 12,000 times in the last 3 months.]

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Some nice insights into social change:

Change and social networks
Nicholas Christakis' TED talk on the groundbreaking research with James Fowler that demonstrates how obesity, smoking and happiness (and lots more) travel along social networks. [Ah-hah moment: our little viral messages and conversations are gifts that bind our networks together!].

The power of first followers
Derek Sivers' Lessons from the Dancing Guy - a beautiful depiction of diffusion in action, and a reflection on the power of "first followers".

What REALLY motivates people?
Dan Pink's entertaining video on why incentives so often backfire and how we are at our best when simply given a chance to be good.

Join the Changeology LinkedIn Group to ask questions, find out about new resources and ideas, and be part of the buzz.

Les Robinson is Australia's preeminent trainer and strategist on the design of behaviour change programs.

Les consults widely on the design of behavioural programs. He trains managers in the fields of sustainability, health promotion, road safety, natural resource management and emergency management. He facilitates strategic forums, workshops, community events and conferences.

About Les's approach:
The Enabling Change process (260k PDF)
5 Doors Theory (147k PDF)

About Les's standard training workshops:
Changeology The practice of program design for change.
Facilitation Skills Facilitate any group with confidence.
Plan it Together Skills and tools to engage a community in plan-making.
Workplace Behaviour Change Engage your staff in action for sustainability.
Passion Mashin' Reinvigorate Landcare and bushcare groups.

Les's Changeology blog is about what it takes to make change happen. Follow for insights, ideas and innovations.

Les is currently excited by:

OpenIDEO
This site, launched in August 2010 by global design firm IDEO, enables social, health and environmental problems to be tackled by virtually unlimited communities of collaborators through a process of inspiration, concepting and evaluation. No more need exhausted committees sit around wondering why they can't solve the world's problems with their own comparatively tiny cognitive resources.

The Conversation
My new addiction. The sublime knowledge of Australian academia, rendered into crisp journalese, plugged directly into the daily zeitgeist. Whoever created this is a genius.

Valuable links for practitioners

Essential reading about social change practice

Tackling Wicked Problems - a public policy perspective, from the Australia Public Service Commission

Mindspace: Influencing Behaviour Through Public Policy, from the Institute for Government (UK)

The Heath Brothers are amongst the deepest, most inspiring and clearest thinkers about making change happen. You can download excerpts from their superb books Made to Stick and Switch.

Community engagement resources

www.communityplanning.net
A great all round collection of tools, methods, case studies (UK)

Effective Community Engagement Workbook and Tools, DSE Victoria

Community Engagement in the NSW Planning System, NSW Government

Get Involved Community Engagement Guides, Qld Government

Success factors for community engagement.

Two decision tools for choosing the right depth of community engagement.

Ryan and Gross

The elegantly simple article that kicked off modern diffusion studies: Ryan, B. and Gross, N.C. (1943) The Diffusion of Hybrid Seed Corn in Two Iowa Communities, Rural Sociology 8, pp15-24